Kathmandu, July 29
The Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee on Sunday postponed its meeting scheduled for this morning till Monday afternoon.
The meeting called for 8 am today will now convene at 2 pm tomorrow, according to Rastriya Janata Party Nepal’s Laxman Lal Karna, who chairs the meeting as the seniormost member.
The meeting was called to decide whether to endorse or reject the nomination of Acting Chief Justice Deepak Raj Joshee for the position of Chief Justice.
Though parliamentary hearing in Nepal has so far been a mere formality, the panel consisting of members of both houses of the Federal Parliament is delaying its decision this time.
The Committee had summoned and interviewed Joshee on Thursday. His performance during the hearing was reportedly below expectation and he had failed to answer many questions of the lawmakers.
In the meantime, his academic certificates are found to have mentioned contradictory data about his examination roll numbers among others.
Therefore, the Committee had earlier decided to carry out a further probe.
This is the second time the meeting was postponed. Immediately after the hearing session, the meeting was called for Friday for the decision, but it was postponed till Sunday later.
Meanwhile, members of the Committee representing the ruling Nepal Communist Party have demanded that the party leader provide them with a clear direction about if they can reject Joshee’s name if the probe finds errors on his part.
“If the party wants to endorse the name, we will not probe his papers. Otherwise, we will do that,” a PHSC member says.
